Surely rugby sevens will get the nod
Rugby sevens and golf have emerged as the favourites for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games.
Seven sports; baseball, golf, softball, rugby sevens, roller sports, squash and karate recently put their case to the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The promotional video used at the presentation, an improved version of the one which won a major award at the 2009 New York Film Festival was kept under wraps until after it had premiered in Lausanne.
The Lausanne delegation from the I.R.B. included Anastassiya Khamova, one of Kazakhstan's top female players and a referee at Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009
Australian women's rugby sevens captain Cheryl Soon, also a member of the delegation says Olympic officials clapped and cheered the presentation from the sport, as it seeks readmission to the 2016 Games after what would be an absence of 92 years.
I.O.C. President Jacques Rogge, himself a former Belgian international rugby player said after the presentations, “All seven sports made interesting and informative presentations. In the end the decision will come down to which are the best fit for the Olympic programme.”
He has previously told reporters that as a former player he feels sympathy with rugby, but that he has no vote.
Initially the Executive Board will meet in Berlin on August 13th to select two sports to put forward for ratification at the I.O.C. general assembly in Copenhagen on October 9th. This will be seven days after the host city for the 2016 games is selected from Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
The I.O.C. have announced that even those five sports which fail to make the cut in August will be invited to Copenhagen. If the two recommended sports fail to win majority approval from the I.O.C. assembly, it's possible the other five could still get a chance to be voted onto the programme.
Surely rugby sevens, where over 100 national men’s and 52 women’s teams play the sport will get the vote and ultimately ratification and an opportunity to be part of the Olympic Games.
One only has to look at the Cup quarter-finalists at the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens, where five continents were represented in the men’s and four in the women’s; if that’s not a truly global sport, what is?
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